


Quiet Nights

by 360loverpenguin



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, It's late and Sokka can't sleep, Post-Episode: s03e18-21 Sozin's Comet, Sokka tries to adjust back into normal life now that he's not saving the world., Southern Water Tribe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25607080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/360loverpenguin/pseuds/360loverpenguin
Summary: Over the year he had spent travelling with his friends, Sokka couldn't think of one moment he had been truly alone. They worked together, laughed together, fought together; he could remember hundreds of nights falling onto his sleeping bag in exhaustion, being calmed to sleep by the sounds of his friends’ even breathing and the rustle of the wind.Here, back in the room he had lived in since he was born, there was no one. He forgot what it felt like to have your own space. And he couldn't say he loved the way the night seemed to press in to the void around him.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Quiet Nights

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wondered if it would've been weird for the gaang to transition back into their everyday lives after spending so long away from home; so here's a bit of a character study on Sokka just after the series finale! Enjoy!

Sokka stared up at the celling above him, eyes tracing over the lines and cracks running along it, made hazy from the lack of light. He tucked his arm behind his head, moving the small window laying across the room into his view. A few stray rays of moonlight found their way in, the only thing allowing him to see.

He took even breaths, eyes not staring at anything as he stretched for some part of him that was tired, that would allow him to sleep.

He sighed, the noise filling his senses for a moment before dissipating. It was too quiet. It wasn't that it particularly surprised him; everyone else was already long asleep. It was just that he wasn't used to the lack of noise splitting up the cool of the darkness.

Over the year he had spent travelling with his friends, he couldn't think of one moment he had been truly alone. They worked together, laughed together, fought together; he could remember hundreds of nights falling onto his sleeping bag in exhaustion, being calmed to sleep by the sounds of his friends’ even breathing and the rustle of the wind.

Here, back in the room he had lived in since he was born, there was no one. He forgot what it felt like to have your own space. And he couldn't say he loved the way the night seemed to press in to the void around him.

He rolled onto his side with a huff, gaze trailing to the curtain that separated his room from the rest of the house. This didn't make any sense! He was home. He should feel relaxed. He had slept on Appa’s saddle on long flights, in a Fire Nation prison as a guard for a few nights, even in a cave once or twice… so why couldn't he relax now that he was back in his own bed?

He looked around the room that he had spent so long away from, every detail of it committed to memory. There was the dresser, crafted from long worn wood, that he had carved Water Tribe symbols into years ago that he could trace easily in his mind. The facepaints his dad had made him lay on top of it, and he could tell without walking over there which container held which colour. There was the place he always threw his coat into the corner, never really bothering to hang it up. So why did it feel so strange… unfamiliar now?

He lay there for a few more minutes. What time was it anyway? How long had he been lying there? It felt like hours. It probably was. He ran a hand over his face, exhaling in time with the motion. He wasn't getting any sleep tonight.

Sokka threw the blanket off of him, air chilling slightly around him as he quietly stepped out of bed, minding to keep his footsteps as silent as possible. It reminded him of when he would sneak out of his bed after dark when he was a kid, usually searching for a midnight snack in the kitchen.

He grabbed the blue strip of fabric off the dresser as he pushed the curtain aside, tying his hair back into its’ normal wolftail as he stepped into the living room. Sokka stood in place for a few beats, stretching his arms behind him in the larger space, lit by the small fire kept burning in the centre of the room. He didn't really know what to do, or what he was hoping for by coming out there. At least the slight crackling of the flames kept the silence from becoming overbearing.

Sitting down next to the fire, he leaned back on his arms, the heat reaching out to brush against his skin. The uneven flames popping over one another reminded him of the ones he and the others had gathered around not that long ago. He laughed silently at that, it had been less than a week, but it already felt a million miles away.

He allowed his eyes to drift shut, relaxing into the warmth. His mind drifted to his family not for the first time that night, wondering how they were adapting back to their ‘normal’ lives. Or, as normal as it got for the group that practically saved the world.

They had dropped Suki off on Kyoshi Island that morning, her wanting to train with the newly reunited Kyoshi warriors, before Aang had flown he and Katara back home. The avatar had then headed over to the Southern Air Temple, planning to talk to the guru Sokka hadn't bothered to learn the name of, now that he had mastered the avatar state. Zuko was, of course, still in the Fire Nation, working on his newly assumed Firelord duties. He wondered how they were feeling, now that their group wasn’t all in one place. Were any of them awake like he was?

He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard a noise, eyes quickly opening to see Katara falling out of her room as well. She smiled at him, carefully stepping over the floorboard that always creaked as she made her way further into the centre of the room. He nodded to the spot on the floor next to him, inviting her to sit.

“Can’t sleep either?” she asked, voice too loud for the silent atmosphere as she moved to huddle around the fire just as he was.

He shook his head, rubbing his eyes roughly with his hands. “It’s so weird.” The light flickered, casting inconsistent shadows throughout the room. “We’ve spent the last year saving the world, getting into near death situations every other day, and now we’re just…”

“Normal teenagers?”

Sokka sucked out a breath through his teeth. “Yeah,” he said. He paused for a moment, “You think we’ll ever get used to it again?” he asked, voice set into a whisper.

A moment passed where neither spoke, eyes looking around their childhood home, the one they'd been away from for far too long. “I don't know,” she said finally, allowing the silence to envelop them once more.


End file.
